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I've traveled all over and think it's sad to see areas falling into decay. I took I-75 up to the Nashville, TN area and don't want to drive that again. Seems like the Atlanta rush hour started about 2 hours south of there. It took forever to get from one end of Atlanta to the other. When I got into TN that's where things really changed.. I couldn't hear a weather report on the radio for anything. In fact all I heard was radical Bible preaching and country music. Yuk. Definitely no more musica latina. I thought it was pretty around Chattanooga but that didn't last. Coming back to Fla. on the same route, it's just downright depressing south of Atlanta. Some hardy souls living along along there but it didn't look like there'd be much to look forward to. Then I remember the first billboard I saw just over the Fla. line, a religious one asking me if I knew where I was going to go when I die. Golly.. I hope they replaced that with something more cheerful.
I still don't mind too awfully much the ride up I-95 until you get to Va. We used to look forward to stopping at South of the Border, either just to walk around or to spend the night. The main shops aren't open all night like they used to be and there were hardly any other people even there. About half the lights were lit on the SOB water tower. That was just sad. It does look like the place is getting a fresh coat of paint but I'm thinking… for who, for what? Let it all come back.
Lake Marion used to have a cool sign halfway across the lake that it was "Home of the World's Only Landlocked Striped Bass". That's not there anymore.
Coming back to Fla. down I-95 is still fun. There is just something about crossing over the state line. I still put my hand straight over the dash to get here before anyone else in the car. There's the airplane sign showing that speeders are watched from the air. Even though I live here I still like stopping at the welcome center. Then there are the citrus and souvenir stands, especially the one that has the gigantic (not real) shark. And the outlet stores around St. Augustine. Funny stuff on the radio. Some things I hope don't change.
Orlando is a "big small town" pretty spread out, huge choice of homes etc...but not much of a job base beyond service jobs, sort of run down in many areas, schools are hit or miss..UCF is really great, but I think many students won't make it there. FM radio always has, excuse me, NPR, which is and will always be very liberal and pro-Obama. There is some other liberal guy on the FM station, but he tends to be rather closed minded so I just listen to NPR.
Orlando is a "big small town" pretty spread out, huge choice of homes etc...but not much of a job base beyond service jobs, sort of run down in many areas, schools are hit or miss..UCF is really great, but I think many students won't make it there. FM radio always has, excuse me, NPR, which is and will always be very liberal and pro-Obama. There is some other liberal guy on the FM station, but he tends to be rather closed minded so I just listen to NPR.
I disagree with Orlando being a "big small town" as the semantics of it being a "small big city" or simply a mid-sized city work much better. Sarasota is a big small town, or Savannah, Ga, not a 2 million person metro area. Yeah NPR is accused of being liberal, but I am not saying Orlando is liberal per se, just happy that Orlando does not have an FM station where the extreme right view point is broadcasting along side so called "Christian" preaching on blast as you scan the dial.
Then I remember the first billboard I saw just over the Fla. line, a religious one asking me if I knew where I was going to go when I die. Golly.. I hope they replaced that with something more cheerful.
Tell me about it. All those abortion and Jesus billboards along 75 from south of 10 to north of Dade City are really depressing and tacky.
So exactly one week ago I departed on a trip to visit my significant other's family in various parts of the South. It had been a while since I had left Orlando and I was beginning to feel like maybe we weren't so different than the rest of our geographical neighbors, after stops in Savannah, Charleston, the Upstate of SC, Atlanta, and lesser known points in between, all I can say is that there's really no place like home.
We started out north on 95 and around Jacksonville I began to notice little changes. As the familiar and comforting sounds of Orlando's non-conservative FM talk radio shows began to fade, they were replaced by right wing and Christian programming that is normally sentenced to AM obscurity on the Orlando airwaves. Can you believe anyone would actually put 100,000 watts of FM radio behind some of these jerks?!!
As we reached Savannah, we decided to stop for lunch. It's a beautiful town and a really nice place to visit but doesn't seem like a place I'd really want to live. The suburbs are minimal and the DT area is really the only place that appeals. However, it was packed with tourists like me and seemed like more of a tourist trap rather than the historical gem that it's supposed to be. We tried to find a place to grab some local oysters and could only find ones shipped from Apalachicola Bay, Florida. Bummer!
Arriving in Summerville, SC which is considered a "suburb" of Charleston, I was astonished by how much more spread out it was than even some of our further flung suburbs. It made the more developed parts of Apopka and Oviedo look dense. Truthfully, Charleston considers any small town that has new growth in it to be a suburb which was weird to me since our suburbs tend to blend into one another and I consider the small towns outside of the Orlando UA to be exurbs (ie: Deltona, Debarry, Geneva, St. Cloud, etc.).
Next our trip took us through the SC capital of Colombia and onward to the upstate where my GF's family has 6 acres, and a horse in a tiny town of 800. Along the way the FM dial was dominated by Country (which I like in doses like anything else), Christian preaching/music, and other music stations that censored words like ***** and ass which fly freely over Central Florida's air. I began to really feel like I was in a different place, not bad, not backwards, just different. Actually, the whole point of this thread is just to discuss what, and how it felt different. I know with some of the stuff that happens in Flori-duh, we sometimes begin to think we are more conservative/bible belt than we really are. As a transient city, I think we attract people of all background from the North, the South, and beyond.
So please will you join me in reflecting on how going to another place where the culture and way of life are drastically different. Feel free to celebrate if you are glad Orlando differs from the South if you, feel free to disagree. The truth is I really missed Orlando in the week I was gone. I am happy to be back in a city that has only 1 country station broadcasting from it's borders (K92, even though you can pick up some others from smaller towns), no FM conservative talk radio that you might happen upon while pushing the seek button, and nobody preaching salvation to you when flipping through the stations. Thank God we actually can turn on the radio and hear talk radio that supports our President and doesn't needlessly bash him. I was truly impressed by Orlando after seeing how other places are. Any thoughts...?
Wow! Awesome post. Glad to hear about Savannah & Charleston, two places I'm really interested in. As I'm not religious, nor do I like most country (I love a few artists) I guess these places really wouldn't work out for me! Makes me much happier I live in central Florida, where I thought it was actually Bible Belt also, but Orlando area has nothing on these places! I also love the uncensored radio here. Sometimes I say to myself "Damn, they can get away with that?" I love Florida. I think many people down here act like animals, but the crime rates are also high in these charming, bible belt cities with "morals". At least we have more freedom of expression down here
Wow! Awesome post. Glad to hear about Savannah & Charleston, two places I'm really interested in. As I'm not religious, nor do I like most country (I love a few artists) I guess these places really wouldn't work out for me! Makes me much happier I live in central Florida, where I thought it was actually Bible Belt also, but Orlando area has nothing on these places! I also love the uncensored radio here. Sometimes I say to myself "Damn, they can get away with that?" I love Florida. I think many people down here act like animals, but the crime rates are also high in these charming, bible belt cities with "morals". At least we have more freedom of expression down here
Funny you say that about the uncensored radio stations. I say the same thing, I can't believe they can say or play that on the radio. It doesn't bother me though.
Wow! Awesome post. Glad to hear about Savannah & Charleston, two places I'm really interested in. As I'm not religious, nor do I like most country (I love a few artists) I guess these places really wouldn't work out for me! Makes me much happier I live in central Florida, where I thought it was actually Bible Belt also, but Orlando area has nothing on these places! I also love the uncensored radio here. Sometimes I say to myself "Damn, they can get away with that?" I love Florida. I think many people down here act like animals, but the crime rates are also high in these charming, bible belt cities with "morals". At least we have more freedom of expression down here
Quote:
Originally Posted by beckycat
Funny you say that about the uncensored radio stations. I say the same thing, I can't believe they can say or play that on the radio. It doesn't bother me though.
You took the "uncensored" words out of my mouth. About the only thing you cannot say on the radio down here are the ones censored by the FCC. The whole process of that however is dicey and should be reserved for another thread regarding censorship and how the FCC arrives at that decision. It's safe to assume however, that the shows I listen to will continue to push the limit of free speech. After hearing the word "sex" bleeped out of a Bruno Mars song in South Carolina, Orlando radio was a breath of fresh air.
All over the world, the scene changes dramatically when you venture out of relatively large cities.
Personally, I think Orlando's radio stations, which you keep mentioning, are one of the dead last things I would list as a recommendation for this area. I find either Tampa area or Melbourne area radio much better. I like 89.9 and 103.1 because I like jazz, but neither are really great. Most Orlando stations seem to have a 20 song playlist, when there is so much wonderful music. For example, there must be an entire generation of young people who think that Elton John never played anything other than "Bennie and the Jets", and "Philadelphia Freedom"; two of the most annoying songs he ever sang. If you want to go the oldies route, what's wrong with just about anything off his Tumbleweed Connection album, which I for one never hear on Orlando radio.
I would much rather see the Jesus and abortion billboards then the porn, show girl advertising billboards.
You know it's funny Sunny, cause I see tons of huge signs advertising "nude/ bear-all cafes" along the interstate in BFE towns throughout the conservative south.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vincero
All over the world, the scene changes dramatically when you venture out of relatively large cities.
Personally, I think Orlando's radio stations, which you keep mentioning, are one of the dead last things I would list as a recommendation for this area. I find either Tampa area or Melbourne area radio much better. I like 89.9 and 103.1 because I like jazz, but neither are really great. Most Orlando stations seem to have a 20 song playlist, when there is so much wonderful music. For example, there must be an entire generation of young people who think that Elton John never played anything other than "Bennie and the Jets", and "Philadelphia Freedom"; two of the most annoying songs he ever sang. If you want to go the oldies route, what's wrong with just about anything off his Tumbleweed Connection album, which I for one never hear on Orlando radio.
I thought people would have picked up on the fact that I was referencing talk programming and the lack of censorship on our music stations (good or not). It's not even that I think our stations are that great, but rather I was happy to realize the lack of FM conservative programming which is everywhere all over the FM dial in other parts of the SE.
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